Rachida Dati to continue as French Justice Minister this year

London, January 14 (ANI): Controversial French Justice Minister Rachida Dati has dismissed suggestions that her cabinet days are numbered, saying that she will keep her post this year.

She was reacting to reports that said that tipped her to step down, and represent President Nicolas Sarkozy's Right-wing UMP party in June elections for the European parliament.

It was recently said that the minister was at loggerheads with magistrates, prison officials and lawyers, who thought that she was unable or unwilling to dialogue with them on reforms.

Some of her advisers were also said to have been exhausted by her abrasive management style, leading to insistent reports that she would soon leave the government or move to a lower-profile ministry.

Dati, however, has denied that she is about to lose her present post.

"I only recently received assurances from the President that I would continue in 2009 to my work as justice minister," the Telegraph quoted her as telling the newspaper Le Figaro. (ANI)